UN Women, grounded in the vision of equality enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, works for the elimination of discrimination against women and girls; the empowerment of women; and the achievement of equality between women and men as partners and beneficiaries of development, human rights, humanitarian action and peace and security.

UN Women Ukraine implements its Country Strategy 2018-2022, covering the following thematic areas:

• Making gender equality priorities central to national reforms, governance, planning and budgeting;
• Ending violence against women and girls; and
• Strengthening implementation of the Women, Peace and Security agenda.

The Government of Ukraine has taken significant steps and achieved tangible results in strengthening and enhancing the status of the National Gender Mechanism. On March 1, 2017, according to the Decree of the Cabinet of Ministers # 117, the Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration of Ukraine was appointed responsible for the coordination of the national policy on gender equality. On June 7, 2017, the Cabinet of Ministers also adopted Resolution # 390 on the introduction of the post of the Government Commissioner on Gender Policy. Over the past two years, progress has been made in enhancing the impact of the ministries' improvement mechanism on strengthening their institutional structures to promote gender equality in relevant reform areas. According to the Deputy Prime-Minister Office, since January 2020, 55 gender focal points have been appointed to the central executive bodies. Also, 9 advisory and advisory bodies have been set up in the central executive bodies (for example, the CMU Interagency Council on Family, Gender Equality, demographic development, prevention and counteraction to domestic violence and combating human trafficking). Gender Advisers have been appointed in 22 regions. One of the functions of the Government Commissioner is to coordinate the work of the line ministries, other central and local executive bodies in ensuring equal rights and opportunities for women and men[1]. 

In October 9, 2020 the Cabinet of Ministries of Ukraine adopted another important normative act to strengthen implementation of the national gender policy at sectoral, regional and local levels – Decree ? 930 “Some issues of ensuring equal rights and opportunities for women and men”[2]. The decree equipped the central bodies of executive power, the regional state administrations and the local self-governments by standard provisions on the responsible unit for equal rights and opportunities for women and men and on advisors for equal rights and opportunities for women and men, prevention and counteraction to gender-based violence.

In August 2020 the Cabinet of Ministers adopted the first-ever gender-sensitive State Strategy on Regional Development 2020-2027[3] to inform the process of regional development. However, the policy of decentralization reform and the legal frameworks have not yet been fully aligned with the international gender equality and women’s rights commitments, and with the national policy and legislation commitments on gender equality. According to OSCE/ODIHR study of the effectiveness of regional-level gender equality mechanisms in Ukraine[4] commissioned in 2018, the National Gender Mechanism has systemic gaps at regional and local levels. While responsibilities of the Regional State Administrations (RSA) and local self-governments on implementation of the national policy on gender equality are stipulated in the Law on ensuring equal rights and opportunities of women and men in Ukraine, they are not regulated by sectoral laws and bylaws which determine the work of RSAs and LSGs. The position of gender adviser in the Regional State Administrations which plays key role in ensuring gender mainstreaming in RSAs is not institutionalized and thus has weak status due to the lack of a dedicated power and budget, unclear terms of references and reporting lines. Gender advisers in the RSA are not involved to the regional policy cycle and budgeting processes and dependent from political will of regional management which is being recurrently changing. There is no mechanism established to ensure co-ordination between the regional gender advisers and National Gender Mechanisms. Although, the coordination boards established in 24 regions (oblasts) to strengthen gender mainstreaming of regional polices and ensure collaboration with women’s CSOs, they serve predominantly to coordinate efforts in combating gender-based violence and human trafficking. While coordination boards seem to be active in some regions, implementation of their conclusions and recommendations is being negatively affected by a lack of gender capacity of the regional administration staff and unclear accountability lines. Collection and analysis of sex-disaggregated statistics, public consultation and engagement of women’s CSOs and women’s’ groups to formulation and implementation of decentralization reform and key regional policy documents are not ensured by the current legislation. Thus, implementation of the national gender equality framework on the regional and local levels remains weak, inconsistent and insufficient.

As a result of systemic gaps of the National Gender Mechanism at regional level, majority of regional strategies up to 2027 do not reflect the implementation of international and national framework on gender equality and women empowerment, do not contain gender data and analysis and have gender-blind results and resources framework. Indicators of the State Programme on Equal Rights and Opportunities, the NAP on implementation of CEDAW Committee Concluding Observations to the Eighth Periodic Report and the NAP on implementation of UNSCR on WPS 1325, as  well as Nationalized SDGs indicators are not included to the monitoring framework of regional strategies and local social-economic plans of territorial communities (hereinafter, TCs). While there is a number of project initiatives of UN and non-UN agencies promoting gender-responsive planning and budgeting at the local level, these practices are not institutionalized and streamlined by the gender mainstreaming methodology and SDGs nationalization framework. There is a lack of effective mechanisms that would ensure communication between different regions and local communities on gender policy implementation and serve as a platform for sharing best practices. The Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women expressed concern in the Concluding Observations on the Eighth Periodic Report of Ukraine that the ongoing decentralization reform has no reference to gender equality.[5]

UN Women provides policy advice to the National Gender Mechanism on strengthening coordination, monitoring and evaluation of implementation of the national gender policy at regional and local levels. The national report on implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action was prepared by the Ministry of Social Policy of Ukraine in 2019 and highlighted the importance of strengthening the National Gender Mechanism.

UN Women project “Advancing Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment through Decentralization Reform of Ukraine” funded by the Government of Canada supports the consolidated efforts of the National Gender Mechanism, the Ministry of Communities and Territories Development of Ukraine, the authorities of pilot regions – Chernivtsi, Kherson, Sumy and Volyn and 13 TCs, women’s groups and civil society organizations (CSOs) in implementation of the national policy on gender equality through decentralization reform. The project provides technical advice and capacity building support to the national partners on strengthening the application of gender equality and human-rights-based approach in implementation of decentralization reform at the national, regional and local levels. Together with UN Women project “Decentralization and Law Enforcement Reforms: Transformative approaches to Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment in Ukraine” funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark, the project supports conducting institutional gender equality capacity assessment of the Ministry of Communities and Territories Development of Ukraine, four pilot RSAs and 13 TCs being implemented by NGO Poruch. The projects facilitate development of recommendations for elaboration of gender-responsive social-economic plans and budgets in pilot regions and TCs in partnership with the key stakeholders in the area of gender and decentralization.[6]

In order to support the Office of Government Commissioner on Gender Policy and the Ministry of Social Policy on strengthening coordination of implementation of the national gender policy at regional and local levels, UN Women seeks to hire a national consultant to provide expert support to the process.

[1]Ukraine, Decree # 390 of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, “On the Position of the Government Commissioner for Gender Policy” of 07 July 2017. Available at https://www.kmu.gov.ua/ua/npas/250049925

[2]Ukraine, Decree # 930 of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, “Some issues of ensuring equal rights and opportunities for women and men”. Available at https://zakon.rada.gov.ua/laws/show/930-2020-%D0%BF#Text

[3]Ukraine, Decree # 695 of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine “On approval of the State Strategy for Regional Development for 2021-2027”. Available at https://www.kmu.gov.ua/npas/pro-zatverdzhennya-derzhavnoyi-strategiyi-regionalnogo-rozvitku-na-20212027-t50820

[4]OSCE/ODIHR, “Study of the Effectiveness of Regional-Level Gender Equality Mechanisms in Ukraine: The Way Forward”, Warsaw 2018. Available at https://www.osce.org/odihr/399617

[5] UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, Concluding Observations on the Eighth Periodic Report of Ukraine, 9 March 2017, CEDAW/C/UKR/CO/8, para 22, p 18. 18.

[6] Sets of minimum (standard) and extended (recommended) gender-sensitive indicators, ensuring Leaving No-One-Behind principle and SDGs localization, were developed and submitted it to the Ministry for further institutionalization within amendments to the Order 75 on formulation and implementation of forecasting and programme documents on social and economic development of TC. The Working Groups, consisting of key staff of the regional state administrations, responsible for strategic planning, gender equality, social protection, information and communication, and women’s organizations and gender experts, are established in pilot regions and TCs to support the project implementation.  

The National consultant on national gender equality policy at regional and local levels will work under the overall guidance of the UN Women Representative in Ukraine, day-to-day guidance, coordination of the UN Women Programme Specialist, as well as in close coordination with a designated official/staff member of the Office of the Government Commissioner on Gender Policy, and in partnership with focal points in the Ministry of Social Policy, Ministry of Communities and Territories Development, NGO Poruch and UN Women national consultants team on gender-responsive decentralization. The consultant will implement a set of tasks, including, but not limited to:

1. In close coordination with the project team, develop a work plan for providing support to the Office of Government Commissioner on Gender Policy, including tasks, indicators for measuring progress, and a timeline of deliverables under the tasks specified in the ToR;
2. Review existing analysis, assessments and monitoring reports on implementation of the national gender equality policy at regional and local levels, including Alternative/Shadow reports on CEDAW implementation in Ukraine, CEDAW Committee Concluding Observations to the Eighth Periodic report and the List of Priority Issues prior the reporting of the CEDAW Committee, OSCE/ODIHR report “Study of the Effectiveness of Regional-Level Gender Equality Mechanisms in Ukraine: The Way Forward”, the report of the institutional gender equality capacity assessment of the Ministry of Communities and Territories Development of Ukraine, pilot RSA and TCs prepared by NGO Poruch and the other related documents; 
3. In cooperation and participation of the Office of Government Commissioner on Gender Policy to conduct bi-lateral and multi-lateral consultations with key stakeholders at the national, regional and local levels on the status of implementation, monitoring and coordination of the national gender equality policy at the regional and local levels and issues to be addressed (minimum 2 field missions to two pilot regions);
4. Perform gender analysis of regional development strategies in all regions of Ukraine and develop recommendations for their systematic gender mainstreaming;
5. Analyze the work plans of consultative-advisory bodies on family, gender equality, demographic development, prevention and combating domestic violence and combating human trafficking at regional state administrations, their implementation and decisions made. Develop recommendations for improving the efficiency of consultative-advisory bodies and gender advisors at regional state administrations
6. In cooperation with women's NGOs and development partners, develop mapping of CSOs advocating for gender equality and human rights;
7. In cooperation with NGO Poruch and project team, develop proposals for a standard methodology of capacity assessment of regional state administrations in national gender policy implementation and cooperation of regional state administrations with CSOs working to ensure gender equality. Provide expert support of further methodology institutionalization based on conducted analysis and with consultative support/interaction with  NGO Poruch and other executive partners of the project;
8. In cooperation with the project team to develop proposals for capacity development of civil servants and local self-government professionals to their improve skills in gender equality policy implementation;
9. In cooperation with the project team, to develop recommendations for the National Gender Mechanism and the Ministry of Communities and Territories Development to take into account the gender component in monitoring and evaluation of regional and local development strategies implementation for further piloting and integration;
10. Draft study report, including recommendations on setting the systems for the strengthened National Gender Mechanism at the regional and local levels, compendium of good practices for gender-responsive coordination, implementation and M&E systems at 3 levels: national, regional and local;
11. Present the report to the key stakeholders, including the DPMO, the Office of the Government Commissioner on Gender Policy, the Ministry of Social Policy, Ministry of Communities and Territories Development, CSOs, UN Women and other development partners.Address the comments received and submit the final version of the report to the Office of the Government Commissioner on Gender Policy and UN Women;
12. In coordination with project national consultants and contractors, provide expert support on the implementation of recommendations of the study on strengthening implementation, M&E and coordination of the national gender equality policy at regional and local levels;
13. Ensure day-to-day technical support and guidance to the Office of the Government Commissioner on Gender Policy on strengthening coordination, M&E of national gender equality policy implementation at the regional and local levels;
14. Participate in the national and regional gender equality policy meetings and events in close coordination with UN Women;
15. Conduct project-end study report on the assessment of capacity of the National Gender Mechanism at the regional and local levels with focus to the pilot regions and TCs;
16. Write brief monthly progress reports on implemented activities and achieved results with attached events’ supporting documents (agendas, lists of participants and reports).

Assignment Deliverables:

1. Baseline and project-end study report, including recommendations on setting the systems for the strengthened National Gender Mechanism at the regional and TC levels, including gender analysis of regional development strategies and recommendations for their systematic gender mainstreaming, mapping of CSOs advocating for gender equality and human rights, recommendations for improving the efficiency of consultative-advisory bodies and gender advisors at regional state administrations, compendium of good practices for coordination, implementation and M&E systems at 3 levels: national, regional and local, is submitted and approved by the Office of the Government Commissioner on Gender Policy and UN Women;
2. Expert support on implementation of the recommendations of the study on strengthening of implementation, M&E and coordination of the national gender equality policy at the regional and local levels provided and approved by the Office of the Government Commissioner on Gender Policy and UN Women;
3. Final report on the progress and achievements, lessons learned, and recommendations submitted and approved by the Office of the Government Commissioner on Gender Policy and UN Women.

• All progress reports and final report should be submitted in Ukrainian and English languages (the supporting documents, such as meeting minutes, analytical papers, workshop agendas etc. can be submitted in Ukrainian language).
• The Consultant is expected to work remotely and upon request in the DPMO using her/his own computer but may access the UN Women office for printing of relevant documents or should he/she be required to work on-site at any point during the assignment.
• The Consultant is expected to travel to minimum two pilot regions of Ukraine. Travel costs will be covered separately in line with UN Women Duty Travel Policy.

Inputs

• UN Women and the Deputy Prime-Minister Office on European and Euro-Atlantic Integration will provide the Consultant with background materials related to the assignment.
• The Deputy Prime-Minister Office on European and Euro-Atlantic Integration will provide the consultant with an access to the internal institutional documents.

Performance evaluation:

• Contractor’s performance will be evaluated against such criteria as: timeliness, responsibility, initiative, communication, accuracy, and quality of the products delivered. The evaluation will be carried out and cleared by the hiring manager after receiving and accepting monthly reports which will also be the basis for payment on a monthly basis to the consultant.

Financial arrangements:

• Payment will be disbursed upon receipt of the deliverables (as per above matrix) and their certification by the DPMO and UN Women Project Specialist that the services have been satisfactorily performed.

Core Values

• Respect for Diversity
• Integrity
• Professionalism

Core Competencies

• Awareness and Sensitivity Regarding Gender Issues
• Accountability
• Creative Problem Solving
• Effective Communication
• Inclusive Collaboration
• Stakeholder Engagement
• Leading by Example

Please visit this link for more information on UN Women’s Core Values and Competencies:

https://www.unwomen.org/-/media/headquarters/attachments/sections/about%20us/employment/un-women-values-and-competencies-framework-en.pdf?la=en&vs=637

Qualifications Education:

• Advanced (Masters) degree in social sciences, law, public policy/administration, economics, development studies, gender studies or similar.

Experience:

• At least 3 years of relevant experience on promotion of gender equality and women’s empowerment into national legislation and policy documents;
• Proven knowledge of international practices and instruments on the protection of human rights/women’s rights;
• Experience with participation in high-level dialogues, consultations, including with the members of parliament, government etc.;
• Previous professional experience of collaboration with the state institutions.

Languages and other skills: 

• Proficient Ukrainian; working knowledge of English, working knowledge of Russian would be an asset
• Computer literacy and ability to effectively use office technology equipment, IT tools, ability to use Internet and email.

Evaluation of Applicants:

Applications will be evaluated based on the cumulative analysis taking into consideration the combination of their qualifications and financial proposal. A two-stage procedure is used in evaluating the proposals, with evaluation of the technical proposal being completed prior to any price proposal being compared. The award of the contract should be made to the individuals whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:

• Responsive/compliant/acceptable.
• Having received the highest score out of a pre-determined set of weighted technical and financial criteria specific to the solicitation.

Technical criteria -70% of total evaluation.

Total max 70 points:

• The total number of points allocated for the technical qualification component is 70. The technical qualification of the individual is evaluated based on desk review and following technical qualification evaluation criteria:

Financial/Price Proposal evaluation:

• Only the financial proposal of candidates who have attained a minimum of 49 points in the technical evaluation will be further considered and evaluated.
• The total number of points allocated for the financial/price component is 30.
• The maximum number of points will be allotted to the lowest price proposal that is opened/ evaluated and compared among those technical qualified candidates who have attained a minimum of 49 points in the technical evaluation. All other price proposals will receive points in inverse proportion to the lowest price.
• Evaluation of submitted financial offers will be done based on the following formula: S = Fmin / F * 30
• (S - score received on financial evaluation; F min - the lowest financial offer out of all the submitted offers qualified over the technical evaluation round; F - financial offer under the consideration).

Application and submission package:

The candidate’s application should include:

1. P11 with indication of relevant experience in line with the ToR requirements.  Completed and signed UN Women Personal History (P-11) form which can be downloaded from: https://www.unwomen.org/-/media/headquarters/attachments/sections/about%20us/employment/un-women-p11-personal-history-form.doc?la=en&vs=558
2. Financial proposal (sample is provided below): The financial proposal shall specify a total lump sum amount with a breakdown of a daily professional rate per number of anticipated working days, and other related costs (e.g. tele-communication).

Interested candidates are requested to apply no later than 9.00 am EET 1 March 2021 by submitting applications to the following e-mail address: hr.ukraine@unwomen.org with a subject “National Consultant on implementation of gender equality policy at regional and local levels”.

Applications without financial proposal may be treated as incomplete and may not be considered for further assessment.

Sample of Financial Proposal

The format shown on the following tables is suggested for use as a guide in preparing the Financial Proposal

1. Cost Breakdown per Deliverables*

*Basis for payment tranches